Town boards are presently working on two already controversial 40B projects, one at Delanson Circle and the other on Worcester Street.

The proposed Delanson Circle development is at the intersection of Linden and Hollis streets, across from the Tailby commuter parking lot.

The proposal for a multi-unit building at 680 Worcester St. got a hostile reception when it was first presented last year, and little seems to have changed with the new application except ownership of the site.

The two were discussed at a packed June 26 joint meeting of the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen.

What is a 40B project?

Chapter 40B was enacted in 1969 as a way to encourage construction of affordable housing projects. A 40B project can be proposed if a town has not yet reached the state standard of having 10 percent of its housing stock designated affordable. (Wellesley is at 6.20, according to Massachusetts Affordable Homes, which has an interactive map on its site showing the percentage in each town.) The zoning board can then approve the project under more flexible rules, assuming at least 20 to 25 percent of the units have long-term affordability restrictions.

According to the “Chapter 40B Handbook for Zoning Boards of Appeals”-- published in 2017 by the Masssachusetts Housing Partnership in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing and MassDevelopment – there are five stages for 40B development.

These projects are often controversial because the law law allows a developer to appeal if the local zoning board turns the project down.

What is affordability? The government determines the Area Median Income, or AMI, for each market. Michael D. Zehner, the town’s planning director, said to qualify, "a project must at least provide housing units to those with household incomes at least 80 percent of the area median income [AMI] or less. The Delanson project's affordable units will be affordable to those with incomes at least 50 percent of the area's median income, while 680 Worcester's will be affordable to those with incomes at 80 percent of the AMI. If you provide to 80 percent of AMI then the development must have 25 percent of the units as affordable; if you provide to 50 percent of the AMI then the development must have 20 percent of the units as affordable."

What is the Delanson Circle project?

As originally proposed, the six-story project will consist of 95 rental units, 19 of them affordable, on what the proposal calls an “underutilized site” with five houses on it. It calls for 84 ground floor parking spaces. It would be located across from the Tailby commuter parking lot, next to the MBTA station at Wellesley Square. It would have a publicly accessible courtyard and community room on the second floor with direct access from Linden Street via an open-air staircase.

How can the developer tear down the existing private homes? Zehner said it is his understanding that the application/developer has an interest, “whether outright ownership or contractual, in all five properties, as well as the Delanson Circle street right-of-way,” which is a private/unaccepted way.

Delanson Realty Partners, LLC is the application/developer. Victor Sheen of Brookline's Oakgrove Residential and Jonathan Halperin of Boston are listed as principals in the application.

What makes it a 40B project?

Zehner said “it is making use of the 40B provisions of the M.G.L. (Massachusetts Gernal laws) by providing the requisite level of affordable housing and coplying with other regulations of the statute. In doing so, the applicant may request waivers, use, dimensional, or other restrictions of local requirements and requations.” The waivers requested are: 1. Maximum Gross Floor Area Ratio; 2. Minimum Setbacks (Front, Side, Rear) 3. Maximum Height; 4. Number of Stories; and 5. Ratio of Parking Spaces to Housing Units

Zehner said he has pointed out to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership that this list “does not appear complete based on the conceptual plans submitted. For example, the applicant has not listed a waiver to the use liminations under the existing zoning, which at most would allow townhomes to be developed on a portion of the property zoning the General Residence District.”

The project would be located along a busy section of Linden Street, near the intersection of Crest Road. Zehner said “impacts to traffic and circulation will certainly be an issue in the Planning Board’s consideration of this request and any recommendation to the Zoning Board of Appeals.”

He noted that the design shows that vehicles will access the property by a garage entrance on Hollis Street – a private/unaccepted way. “As a private unaccepted way abutters along the street may all have an interest in the use of the street.”

At the June 26 meeting, selectmen and residents raised a number of concerns about the Delanson Circle project, such as storm water runoff; setbacks from abutting properties; issues associated with the parking garage, including number of spaces and access for fire trucks and moving vans; traffic and circulation; and sidewalks. They’ve concluded that the project is out of scale for the neighborhood and too intense for the site.

“They really don’t seem to have thought through the parking at all,” said selectman Thomas Ulfelder.

Residents were uniformly angry about the problems they thought this building would create, although they were not necessarily opposed to the concept of 40B projects.

Polly Conlon, of 21 Westerly Street, one of several residents of a nearby condo complex, said they had shared the selectmen’s concerns. Sidewalks and parking are big issues now, she said.

Joe Grignaffini, who has owned and managed property on Linden Street since 1970, said all the problems mentioned at the meeting were serious, “and the traffic will be intolerable.”

One resident who has lived in town for three years raised the issue of the likely impact of more children attending the Sprague School. Another who has lived in town since 1966 got a round of applause when he called the project “the single worst proposal I’ve ever seen before in this town.

680 Worcester St.

Last year, a proposal for a four-story, 20-unit apartment project with five affordable units on the same site drew the ire of neighbors. The building would replace a single-family home.

The current applicant/developer is Jay Derenzo, who was not involved in the previous application. However, Geoff Engler with SEB, LLC is listed as the “40B Consultant” to Derenzo. Engler/SEB, LLC was the previous applicant/developer for the property last year.

Zahner said there have been no changes to the application submitted to the town and reviewed by neighbors in 2016.

“I cannot speak for the neighbors, but expect that the Planning Board, along with the Board of Selectmen, will have at least all of the same issues with the project that were raised a year ago.”

So what’s next for these projects?

Zehner said each application will need to receive a satisfactory determination of project eligibility from the applicable subsidizing agency. For Delanson Circle, this is Massachusetts Housing Partnership. For, 680 Worcester Street it is MassHousing.

If received, the applicants are then authorized to apply to the Town’s Zoning Board of Appeals for a Comprehensive Permit.